Andrea Rost performs Tomorrow Night, May 29th at 5:30 PM at the Warner for the Hungarian American Coalition gala celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain and of a free and democratic Hungary. Purchase tickets here.
The Budapest-born singer will perform a repertoire of Hungarian folk music alongside songs that represent milestones along the arc of her career. She’s happy to discuss living in Hungary during the tumultuous Cold War era, and how that experience influenced her song selection for this concert.
Hungarian opera star Andrea Rost makes rare recital appearance in Washington, DC
The world-renowned lyric soprano performs a recital of classic opera arias and Hungarian folk songs at a gala concert celebrating 25 years of free and democratic Hungary. The concert will be held at the Warner Theatre on Thursday, May 29 at 5:30pm. Tickets $40–$90.
A familiar face on the world’s major opera stages, the Budapest-born lyric soprano Andrea Rost has been praised for her “bright and silvery soprano” (The Times) and “limitless vocal prowess” (Chicago Sun-Times). Ms. Rost will perform opera favorites from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Mozart’s The Magic Flute, among others, as well as traditional Hungarian folk songs at a rare, full-length recital at Washington, D.C.’s Warner Theatre tomorrow, Thursday, May 29th at 5:30 PM. The concert is part of the Hungarian American Coalition’s gala celebration of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. She will be accompanied by the exceptional Hungarian-Canadian pianist Gergely Szokolay, who will also play solo works by Bartók, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and R. Strauss.
“This special occasion commemorates the miraculously peaceful dissolution of communism in Hungary 25 years ago and celebrates all of those members of the Hungarian American community who supported the transition and provided assistance to accommodate economic, political and social change in Hungary,” say Maximilian Teleki, President of the Hungarian American Coalition. “Having a world renowned performer like Andrea Rost perform at our Gala is a gift to our community and a celebration of our beloved Hungarian Heritage.”
Ms. Rost expressed her excitement about the opportunity, saying, “It is very unique to celebrate peace, freedom and prosperity with the Hungarian American community, and so is the program of the concert. […] Hungarian folk music, which strongly influenced the work of Zoltán Kodály, is very close to my heart since my childhood.”
Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Hungarian American Coalition’s Dr. Elemér and Éva Kiss Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance to deserving Hungarian students who wish to pursue their education in American colleges and universities.
About Andrea Rost
Born in Budapest, soprano Andrea Rost enjoyed a roaring international success at the première of Rigoletto at La Scala in 1994, where she had been invited by Riccardo Muti, and has been a regular guest singer there ever since. Her signature roles include Gilda in Rigoletto and Violetta in La Traviata, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. She is a star of the Budapest National Opera and a regular performer at major opera houses and performance venues across the world including the Salzburg Festival, Covent Garden, Teatro Real Madrid, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, LA Opera and the New National Theatre (Tokyo). A graduate of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Ms. Rost was named an “Artist of Merit” in 1997, and has been honored with the Liszt Prize and the Kossuth Prize.
About the Hungarian American Coalition
The Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) was created in 1991 in response to changing needs at a critical time in Hungarian history. After the defeat of communist rule, Hungary struggled to accommodate economic, political and social change. A number of active Hungarian Americans in the Washington area – predominantly those who had supported the anticommunist opposition in Hungary – recognized both the historic opportunity and the compelling need to create an organization that could identify and promote the interests of the Hungarian American community in the United States. Foremost among those interests was providing assistance to the historic Hungarian minority communities in the Carpathian Basin and helping in the transformation of Hungary into a democratic, free-market based country.
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